Grand jury indicts N.H. man on child assault charges

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BRENTWOOD, N.H. — A man police say beat and burned his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son last month before fleeing and being captured with her at a Florida theme park has been ­indicted by a grand jury on ­assault charges.

Dow, 27, and the boy’s mother, Jessica Linscott, 23, went to Orlando rather than face police questioning after they took the child to a New Hampshire hospital.

Prosecutors said the boy’s body was covered with bruises, one of which seemed ‘‘to stretch from his rib cage, the middle of his back, all the way across and around his rib cage.’’

Police said Dow struck the boy in the head so hard he caused traumatic brain injury and seizures. Linscott is ­accused of failing to take her son in for treatment sooner and is charged with several counts of child endangerment.

Prosecutors said the couple had agreed to surrender to ­police Nov. 19 but instead hid in Haverhill, Mass. From there, they went to Boston, where they took a bus to New York and then a train to Florida.

Federal marshals apprehended Dow and Linscott, who are from Plaistow, at a Universal Studios park after a parade last week.

Since then, people have been dropping off toys and gifts at a police department in New Hampshire for the boy, who was recently released from the hospital.

The child is recovering from brain injuries, bruises, and burns to his wrist and fingers. Police said a fund is being set up to receive financial donations intended for him.